1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for maintaining an ink jet recording apparatus and an ink jet recording apparatus which is able to carry out the same.
2. Related Art
In the related art, so-called ink jet recording apparatuses which record images or characters using minute ink droplets which are discharged from nozzles of an ink jet recording head are used. As the inks which are used by the ink jet recording apparatuses for recording images or the like, various types of inks are used such as water-based inks where coloring materials (for example, pigments or dyes) are dissolved or dispersed in a mixture of an organic solvent and water, solvent-based inks where coloring materials are dissolved or dispersed in an organic solvent, and the like.
Among the inks, solvent-based inks which have a glycol ether-based solvent as a base are widely used from the point of view of being able to record excellent images with favorable dryness and water resistance on recording media with ink low absorbency (for example, vinyl chloride films). In addition, solvent-based inks which have an ester-based solvent or a hydrocarbon-based solvent as a base are also widely used from the point of view of having excellent dryness although there are difficulties in terms of the odor and, moreover, solvents with higher boiling points are also used for plain paper as solvent-based inks with low volatility.
Here, in a case of using an ink jet recording apparatus, inks may be attached to nozzle forming members in which nozzles are provided. The inks which are attached to the nozzle forming member may be thickened or solidified due to moisture or other volatile components included therein being evaporated. In addition, there are cases where fiber waste or paper powder coming from recording media such as paper or fabric is attached to the nozzle forming members. In this manner, normal ink discharging may be blocked when foreign matter such as inks, paper, fibers, and dust is attached to nozzles or in the vicinity of the nozzles.
With respect to the discharge failure problems, for example, JP-A-2001-260368 discloses using a cleaning cloth as cleaning means in order to remove ink droplets which are attached to the nozzle forming member. In addition, JP-A-2009-101630 discloses performing wet wiping after coating a recording head or rubber wiper with a wet liquid. JP-A-2010-274533 discloses absorbing inks which are attached to the nozzle forming member using a rolled cleaning cloth or wetting the cleaning cloth using a cleaning liquid. Furthermore, JP-A-2013-132753 discloses supplying a liquid from a liquid supply section to a wiping surface of a cleaning member. Due to this, it is possible to suppress drying of the discharge surface, prevent inks on the discharge surface from being solidified, and easily wipe off the inks. In addition, it is possible to easily wipe off even inks solidified or thickened inks by drying.
However, in the method for cleaning the nozzle forming member described in JP-A-2001-260368, the nozzle forming member may be damaged or the cleaning may be insufficient since a liquid is not used to clean the nozzle forming surface. In addition, in the method for cleaning the nozzle forming member described in JP-A-2009-101630, the cleaning of the nozzle member may be insufficient or the nozzle forming member may be damaged since a rubber wiper is used for the cleaning.
On the other hand, while it is possible to record excellent images with solvent-based inks as described above, solvent-based inks have a problem of being difficult to remove when attached to the nozzle forming member. For this reason, there is a problem in that it is not possible to sufficiently remove the solvent-based inks which are attached to the nozzle forming member even when the nozzle forming member is cleaned using the cleaning liquids (liquid) described in JP-A-2010-274533 and JP-A-2013-132753. In particular, depending on the compatibility between the cleaning liquid (liquid) and the solvent-based inks, ink discharge failures may be generated despite cleaning the nozzle forming member due to satisfactory cleanness not being obtained or components which are included in the solvent-based inks being aggregated.